Return to Myrtle Beach, Part I: Downtown area near City Hall

My recent series of posts illustrating a sweep of Orlando-area theme parks is probably the most profound example of my forays back to semi-normalcy before the recent alarming spike of COVID cases driven largely by the so-called Delta variant. 

I also squeezed in three trips to Myrtle Beach in the past few months. The first in early April (which I addressed in the previous post), and the most recent, in mid-June, which involved extended family, a weeklong enjoyment when I didn't do much photography for leisure. I didn't do too much extracurricular photography on those outings. 

The middle trip to Myrtle Beach, in late April, though, involved just Lee Ann and me, and I took one day of the six days there to make a sweep of an area of downtown Myrtle Beach (and "a study" of one church) that I hadn't had a chance to explore on previous visits. The majority of photos you see in this first of four posts from the late-April visit are from that downtown sweep. 

There were no dramatic findings in the downtown area, but it did help round out my representation of Myrtle Beach in the communities and travel areas of my online photography website. I've now visited Myrtle Beach often enough that I figured I should flesh out its representation in my galleries, especially in the area of the downtown core.   

Much more picturesque during this visit were Atalaya Castle and Huntington Beach State Park, which we visited during that same trip and will be subjects of the second and third posts, respectively, in this series. These attractions are in nearby Murrells Inlet, across the highway from Brookgreen Garden, which I had featured in a post here a couple years ago after a previous visit to the area. The fourth post in the series will be devoted to pictures of the beach and boardwalk areas during sundown.   

My favorite shots from the sweep of the downtown area were those I took in Nance Plaza adjacent to Grand Strand Brewing Company. Apparently, development of the park (and perhaps the retail stores therein) had just finished two months before our visit to Myrtle Beach. One of those Nance Plaza shots, which integrates the plaza fountain into the composition, leads off the post. A few others will be among the first displayed below. 

As for the brewery's moniker ... I'd not heard the term "grand strand" much in reference to Myrtle Beach or the area in my previous visits, but I sure heard or saw it lot during this visit in April. 

The phrase "grand strand" refers to a 60-mile strip of beaches along the Atlantic Coast. The strip stretches from Little River, which is right at the North Carolina border, to Georgetown, which is south of Murrells Inlet. In addition to Little River, Murrells Inlet, Myrtle Beach and Georgetown, it encompasses Surfside Beach, Garden City and North Myrtle Beach. 

The Myrtle Beach Sun newspaper got the ball rolling -- almost certainly unwittingly -- in 1949, before the city was even incorporated. It published a couple of columns with the label "From the Grand Strand," and somehow it caught on with the locals not long thereafter.   

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of an image, simply click on it. To view a gallery of photos from the mid-April shoot in Myrtle Beach, simply click on the link in this sentence. 

Above, the story of Nance Plaza on a plaque in the plaza; below, another look at the fountain, this time on the other side looking away from the brewery. 

I got to Nance plaza early enough to catch some intriguing shadows dancing off a silhouette mural on the building adjacent to Grand Strand Brewery. A perspective shot of the mural appears above, a mid-range shot appears immediately below, two side-view shots appear in the second and third photos below, followed by a modest seating area outside the brewery bathed in shadows and a look at some concrete benches in the sunny section of the plaza proper.

  

Above and below: Two views of First United Methodist Church, which is in this area of the city, not far from the Grand Strand brewery.

 

Above: Also not far from Nance Plaza is this structure -- I'm chagrined to admit I didn't get close enough to it to find out what it was. But its framing by the Palmetto trees is what caught my eye. 

I like stumbling upon new eateries; I'd heard about Mrs. Fish's (above) from the promotional literature handed to us at our accommodations, so I photographed it when I came across it during my walk-around. The barber shop (below) was yet another local business that caught my eye, and interestingly, it's in a position where it is able to display signage on opposite sides of its building. I photographed both sides, and this is one of them. 

Above and below: Two views of the front facade of Myrtle Beach City Hall. I grabbed the one above because I liked the interesting shadows cast by the landscaped plant in the foreground. The one below is a straight-on shot. 

A fuller view of City Hall (above) and a look (below) at the flag plaza in front of the building.

 

Above: Adjacent to City Hall is this building, appropriately named City Hall Annex.

Above and first five photos below: A block from City Hall is Myrtle's Market, which is where the city has its farmers market three days a week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during normal growing season. 

Above: Just as I was leaving Myrtle's Market, a city bus headed my way. I was tempted to hop on and try it, but I had things to accomplish still in the area.

The city's police station (above), or law enforcement center as the sign below indicates, is a newer structure in the same proximity. Another view is shown in the second photo below. 

Above and first two below: Also nearby is the community's Chamber of Commerce offices, which includes a modest fountain that was operating the day I was there. 

 

Above: While photographing the law enforcement center, these four officers were in an area behind the building looking like they were getting ready to head out on their bikes. A couple of times when I glanced over to them, at least one of them (if not a couple of them) were watching me work. Just as I turned away from finishing my shots at the Chamber of Commerce, they all took off on their bikes. I got this shot moments after they passed me on the sidewalk. 

Next up: Atalaya Castle